When The Only Hope Left Is In The Dark
by Shadows Of The Storm
Summary: Darkness rules the clans as an unkown evil stalks them all into near extinction, one warrior may be the key to stopping it all. Set in the future, next generation. Rated M for violence. Disclaimer: I don't own a single thing.


**A/N: Hey all my loyal Warriors fans! I'm so sorry that I abandoned you guys for the longest time! Please forgive me! Anyways, I bring you another Warrior Cat story! This one is set sometime in the future, so don't expect any familiar faces to be living! (Then again, they could make an appearance in a vision or two…) This one is darker than anything else I ever wrote besides my Tortured Paradise series. I hope you guys all enjoy! Please review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything because if I did then it would be nowhere near as good as it is right now!**

I woke up to screaming and ran outside of my den. The sky was pitch black and heavy, cold rain soaked my fur in a matter of seconds. I followed the sound until I reached the medicine cat den. _Oh no, don't tell me they have killed Moonfire!_ I desperately thought as I pushed into the small den. The scent of blood wafted to my nose and it was so strong it almost made me sick.

"Moonfire, where are you?" I called, hoping for an answer. What would we do if Moonfire had been killed? It was so dark I didn't see the flash of black that was running at top speed to me until it crashed into me. I fell back and was about to claw the intruder when I saw familiar green eyes glazed over in pain.

"Moonfire, is that you? What happened? Are you okay?" I demanded. The small medicine cat jumped off of me and I felt something sticky covering my fur. I gave it an experimental lick and froze. It was cat blood, and I was covered in it.

"It's not me Silvernight! Just come and look!" Moonfire cried out and took off again. I followed the distraught she-cat and wished I had never had done that when she stopped. Her apprentice was lying at my paws, lying in a pool of her own blood. Her head had been cut off by something razor sharp, and I saw it some distance away. Her body had been mangled beyond recognition, and I shuddered. I carefully avoided Goldpaw's body and padded over to where her head was laying. I rolled it over and retched. Her expression was eternally locked into a look of pure terror, and her eyes had been brutally gouged out by Starclan knows what and in their place was two black holes. Blood covered her face and I could barely see any remains of her fur. Moonfire had lost all control and was crying uncontrollably and I padded over to her.

"Leave her here Moonfire. We will get her out of here in the morning. You need your rest, so you can come and sleep in the warriors den. There is so much room in here nowadays…" I trailed off, and Moonfire numbly shook her head. I gently lead her to the warriors den, and she fell asleep the second she laid down. I knew that she was going to have nightmares, but there wasn't anything I could do about that. The image of Goldpaw's broken and headless body had been burned into my memory and there was no way that I would ever forget it. Sighing, I went to do the dreaded task of telling Midnightstar that we had lost another cat. I wasn't even the deputy, why did I have to do this? Stopping outside of his den, I tried in vain to lick Goldpaw's blood out of my fur. How long had these attacks been happening? If we lost anymore cats, Shadowclan would be no more!

"Midnightstar, are you awake?" I called, hoping that he would sleep through my summons. I just wanted everything to go back to the way it was!

"Now I am. Get in here." Midnightstar's deep voice answered, and it sounded like he had just hit head on something. Gulping, I stepped inside of the dark cave. My eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness and I saw my leader sitting in his nest. I walked to him slowly, trying to figure out what to say. I had a feeling that 'Guess what? Goldpaw just got beheaded and her remains are now the new decorations for the medicine den!' wouldn't work.

"Midnightstar, we lost another cat." I said slowly in the calmest voice I had. Midnightstar shot up and he growled. I barely hid my shaking paws.

"Who was it this time?" he growled. This is where it got hard.

"It was Goldpaw." I said before shrinking away. If Midnightstar was known for only one thing, then it was most defiantly his temper. He roared loudly and I could have sworn that he woke up the remains of Thunderclan.

"Get out!" he ordered coldly, and I left as quickly as possible. By now, the sun was starting to come up and the rain had been reduced to a slight drizzle. I sighed in relief at the sight of the sun. We were never attacked during the day, so it was always safe. The 3 remaining clans of Thunderclan, Windclan, and my own Shadowclan had stopped fighting all together. We had all agreed that we would have to work together if we wanted to even find out what this threat was, much less kill it. I heard a noise come from the apprentice den and by the time I had turned around Shadowpaw was stretching in the open sun. I padded over to the small cat and he looked up.

"What's up Silvernight?" he asked, still stretching. Fox dung, this was going to be hard. Goldpaw had been his sister and the only thing he had left after his parents, Starlight and Fireclaw, had been murdered by whatever was slowly picking us off.

"Shadowpaw, can I talk to you alone?" I asked, trying to choose my words carefully. I wanted him to be the first to know, but I didn't want any other cat to accidentally overhear us. Shadowpaw looked at me strangely but followed me anyway. I led him behind the warriors den, which was a secret place that I and I alone had discovered. It was a small grove-like place that made the form of a circle. It was one of the only places in Shadowclan territory that was covered in grass, and it was never wet. The sun was shining here and it made it comfortably warm. I motioned for him to sit down and he obeyed surprisingly enough. Shadowpaw was always one of those cats that would demand answers first then follow orders later.

"What's going on Silvernight?" he asked, cocking his head to one side. For a moment I just stared at his smoky fur and thought about he looked so much different from his sister. She had had golden orange fur with amber eyes like her father, but Shadowpaw had smoky gray fur streaked with white and amber eyes like his mother.

"Silvernight, are you still there?" he asked. I shook my head and shoved the image of Goldpaw's body out of my mind. I had to be strong right now, even if I went to my den and cried for Goldpaw after this. If she hadn't decided to become a medicine cat, Goldpaw would have been my first apprentice. We had been so close…

"Shadowpaw, you're sister was…was attacked last night." I started slowly, stumbling over my words. Shadowpaw's eyes widened. When somebody was attacked, there was only one ending for them.

"Please don't tell me she's dead! Goldpaw is the only thing I have left!" Shadowpaw wailed, and I flinched. If his parent's death hadn't killed him inside, this most certainly would.

"I'm sorry Shadowpaw. We couldn't do anything." _Unless you know how to reattach somebody's head_ I added silently. I didn't want him to see his sister's body. It was horrible enough that she had been killed.

"No no no! It's not possible! Please tell me you're lying!" he begged me. I looked away while I shook my head no. Knowing how I felt about her death, I could only imagine how he felt. When I looked back up, Shadowpaw had taken off to go talk to Midnightstar. I felt so terrible that I just collapsed onto the ground. The usually warm sun did nothing to warm my cold and broken heart. Another night passed, another cat lost. Why couldn't we do something about this?

Mustering what was left of my strength, I pushed myself off of the baked earth and padded back out into the main part of camp. Somebody had dragged Goldpaw's body out into the clearing, but they had left her head back in the den. As cats emerged from their dens, there were shocked gasps and angry outbursts. She was so young and just a medicine cat apprentice! These invaders had no sense of honor! I walked past her bloody body and numbly pushed my way into the warriors den. Moonfire was no longer in there so I assumed that she had been the one to get Goldpaw's body. I padded back outside to see that Goldpaw's head was sitting at the end of her neck, and several cats were pushing their noses into what was left of fur. I hoped she went to a good place. I no longer counted on Starclan. After all, they had been the ones that had let this happen! My anger gave me a small burst of energy and I walked over to Darksky.

"Darksky, we have to do something. We can't stay locked up in the camp. Prey is always running low because were not allowed to go too far from camp. If we stay together in a large enough group during the day, we will be okay. Let someone lead a hunting patrol out of here!" I said, stamping one of my front paws into the soft earth. We were supposed to be Shadowclan cats! We should NEVER be reduced to sniveling mice looked in a cage! Darksky looked at me sadly before shaking her head.

"It's too dangerous Silvernight. We don't know where are enemy is, and we are only safe close to the camp, and even then we get murdered in the night!" she exclaimed. I was about to try again but she shook her head no and walked over to Goldpaw. Frustration welled up inside of me. This wasn't fair!

"Thunderclan!" one of the guards shouted, and Midnightstar stood up and walked to the path that served as the entrance to our camp. Darksky soon followed and I padded after her. Midnightstar had told me that if something ever included Darksky and himself, then I could follow if I wanted. I was surprised at first because I was just a normal warrior, but I had taken him up on his offer. I didn't really care about Thunderclan that much, I just wanted to get away from the awful sight of Goldpaw's body. I saw Snowstar's ice-like white pelt appear. She bowed her head slightly at Midnightstar.

"Midnightstar, Darksky, Silvernight, a pleasure to see you. How is your clan?" she asked. I noticed that she paused before saying my name, but I didn't really think about it though. She had probably forgotten my name. After all, I was just another warrior. Darksky snorted but Midnightstar silenced her with a look.

"We lost Goldpaw last night." Midnightstar said bluntly. Snowstar didn't look surprised but she bowed her head. Nobody was surprised to hear that one clan or another had lost a cat. It was a common thing now.

"I regret to hear that Midnightstar. We must speak though. Starclan has spoken." Snowstar said, and we all looked at her shocked. Starclan had been silent for so long!

"Are you sure Snowstar? I had about given up hope that we would ever hear from them again." Midnightstar urged. If this was true, it was probably the best news any of us had heard in a very long time. Snowstar smiled slightly; glad to see that we believed her.

"I am positive. I spoke to Firestar himself. We must speak in private." She said calmly. Midnightstar nodded and guided Snowstar away from Goldpaw's body and towards his den. I looked up to see Darksky looking up excitedly.

"Do you really think that Snowstar spoke to Firestar? Is Starclan still watching over us?" she asked, looking at the sky like Firestar himself was going to drop down from it.

"I don't know Darksky." At the look she gave me, I quickly continued. "Don't get me wrong, I wanna hear from them too. They could have the answers on this new threat. It's just been so long that any of us have heard from them. I had almost stopped believing in them." I explained, now looking up at the sky. Were they really there? Could they really stop this darkness that had seemed to take over?

**A/N: Sorry guys, there really wasn't a good place that I could end this. So now you see why I said it was pretty dark. I hope you all liked it and I do plan on making the chapters longer. If you all would be so kind to leave a review I just *might* be motivated to write more! (Hint hint!) Thanks for taking the time to read, review, or even just open this story!**

**Until Next Time,**

**-Shadows of the Storm**


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